Reid R. Frazier is an energy reporter for The Allegheny Front, a Pittsburgh-based public media outlet covering the environment in Pennsylvania. His work has aired on NPR and Marketplace.

FirstEnergy’s Little Blue Run coal ash pond, along the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border, has been closed since 2016. But it continues to leach toxic metals into ground and surface water.

The 1,700-acre site, the largest coal ash pond in the eastern U.S., is now asking the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for a new pollution discharge permit to accommodate 16 newly discovered seeps that have opened up around it. The permit would allow the facility, which will close permanently in 2028, to divert any polluted discharge into the Ohio River, instead of into nearby streams.